Do any of you find that because of the complete 'space cadet-ness' of the woman spouting this garbage, that it loses a portion of its sting? Somehow, for me (personally), the fact they they SAID such a thing, a thing that is SO out there, so many miles beyond the border of acceptable speech from ANYBODY to anybody else, let alone a store employee to a customer - that I sometimes start laughing and can't stop.

a) I'm all in favor of reporting people who say carp like that. I don't CARE what 'their' convictions are, that isn't appropriate to say to a single person on the face of the planet.

b) I'm all in favor of people who don't want children not HAVING children. Children are hard work, stressful to handle and to raise at all, let alone well, and they're damned expensive, and they cost you an awful lot of sleep (which I personally handle very poorly!) Nobody who doesn't REALLY want them should ever have them, IMO!

Forget this do it for God and your country nonsense... No child should ever have to be raised by somebody who grudges the cost in time, money and effort.

POD to this. I have 3 kids and love them dearly and they still manage to drive me up the wall. I joke with DH that it's a good thing for them that they're so cute and he replies that yes, it keeps people from eating their young.

I hate when people push the childless/childfree to have kids and call them selfish for not doing it as I am of the opinion that it would be more selfish if they had kids just to get people off their back. Or when they assume someone's childfree because they hate kids.

My best friend is childfree and likes kids, just said she didn't have enough of a maternal instinct to want to have her own. She's kind of taken an aunt/grandmother role towards mine though and in 3 days will officially become the godmother of my youngest. She's one that is of the opinion that kids are even more fun when you can hand them back to their parents when they need a diaper change.

Logged

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars. You have a right to be here. Be cheerful, strive to be happy. -Desiderata

Some people just shouldn't be parents. We have all read news stories about them. You know who we don't read stories about? People smart enough to say "I would make such a lousy parent I'd end up on the news" and so they remain childfree. Rude lady should think about that.

There's also the point that In The Old Days, some wives got dumped because they were barren, and some men had multiple wives because they kept dieing in child bed. It wasn't all hunky dory in the old days with 'no infertility'.... Old Nasty Woman in the OP is delusional...

Janice, what is getting me right off the bat is why she thought she had the right to ask you in the first place if you have children. Was that question relevant to your transaction?

No matter; it was inappropriate and I would have said so. Had she persisted I would have asked "Do you or do you not want my business?" If that didn't stop her I would have curtly wished her good day and walked out, leaving potential purchases behind. Followed by a scathing review on Yelp.

I've never been on the receiving end of this from a sales clerk but some friends have pulled the-wrong-people-are-reproducing argument on me. One even said "Look, I know you hate kids but you're intelligent and you should have one for an intelligent couple who wants kids to raise." I asked if she was high. Never heard that again.

Wow! Even for the country I live in, where totals strangers might ask you personal questions and where people are encouraged to have large families ( in my days it was to make up for those killed in the Holocaust, but even today people tend to be family-oriented and have large families) that exchange gives me the chills. I too have memories of that sentiment being expressed in a different time/ different language...